April 13, 2025 Sermon (Palm Sunday)
Sermon Title: “The Ride into Jerusalem”
Scripture: Luke 19:28-40
(Other lectionary suggestions include Psalm 118, Isaiah 50:4-9, and Psalm 31.)
Luke 19:28-40
Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
28After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” 39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
As you may remember, I have said that I think preaching on Palm Sunday is a difficult task, because we know what happens at the end of the week: Jesus gets crucified. After a triumphant ride into the Holy City, things go wrong, and he goes to his death on the cross. Yes, we are Easter people, and we know that God raises him from the dead. But still, it is brutal to hear again the tale of God’s Suffering Messiah.
So, what I have done is consult what another preacher has said, hopefully to get a new idea or perspective. Much of what I am about to say is by Kevin Miller, a minister at Church of the Savior in Wheaton, Illinois. What Rev. Miller says is that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each write a biography of Jesus, and they largely ignore the first 30 years of his life! In Miller’s words, “they all focus on Jesus’ last three years. And they save about 35 percent of their biographies for one week. His final week. The people who knew Jesus best felt you could not understand him unless you understand this week in his life. What happens in these eight days is the hot burning center of his life.”
The four Gospel writers emphasize different things. For example, Matthew tells us how Jesus cleansed the Temple. This is in Matthew 21. In Mark’s account, “the donkey takes up half the story. Why does Jesus need this donkey?” In Luke 19, the disciples praise God for him, but the Pharisees object. And it’s in John’s Gospel that Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Is John trying to give us a preview of what’s going to happen to Jesus? Maybe. Rev. Miller says, “We could preach every Palm Sunday for decades, and not exhaust the possibilities.” He is the Humble King people have yearned for, and very much NOT like “the arrogant Roman generals on their war horses.”
Luke was familiar with Zechariah 9:9. which says this: ((Read Zechariah 9:9 and 10 -- 9Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.)) This donkey had never been used before, the same as the tomb in which Jesus’s body would be placed. It says that in Luke 23:53: It says Joseph of Arimathea “took it down (meaning Jesus’s body) and wrapped it in a linen shroud, and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid.” Says Pastor Kevin Miller, “Palm Sunday is more than a day. It is the doorway into the most important week in Jesus’ life....So Palm Sunday is not, and cannot be, just a day of triumph (he’s King!), but also the start of his suffering (the only crown this king will wear is thorns). This is why Palm Sunday is also called the Sunday of the Passion.”
The Rev. Kevin Miller draws a comparison I had never thought of before: a tale of two basins. He mentions how Jesus used a basin to wash his disciples’ feet on the night before he was crucified, and he points out the basin that Pontius Pilate used “to wash his hands of the responsibility for state-sponsored murder.” Remember that? Pilate took no responsibility for Jesus’s death.
Pastor Kevin also quotes Henri Nouwen, who said, “This moment when Jesus is handed over to those who do with him as they please is a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. It is turning from action to passion. Things are no longer done by him, but to him.” And Rev. Miller wonders, “Could it just be possible that our greatest contribution in life may be not through our achievements as usually defined but through our suffering?” And one more insight from Kevin Miller...while Jesus is on the cross next to two felons, “Jesus became One who does not count, so he could rescue ones who do not count.” Amazing, right? I hope you have a meaningful and worthwhile Palm Sunday.
I mentioned that I checked with what another pastor said in his/her take on Palm Sunday, and I just discovered the following from another preacher. Her name is Carolyn Mowchan, and she pastors a Lutheran church in Duluth, Minnesota. She has this observation: “The battle belongs to the Lord, eventually, but a good part of the time it looks like God is losing the war. Every part of the passion story demonstrates in microcosm the ongoing struggle between good and evil, trust and fear, which repeat over and over again in our lives. This repeating cycle of praise, expectation, disappointment, rejection, and eventual despair can be the theme song of (our) living if we let it. Watch how the cycle unfolds in just a few short days in this story. Then look for the melody that plays out in your life.”
Referring to when Peter denied that he ever knew Jesus, Rev. Mowchan says, “We often hear the rooster crowing when our passive silence swallows up our courage to act with integrity and faith…Why didn’t the king fix all the troubles, restore peace and prosperity, and save us all from suffering? What kind of king does Jesus claim to be anyway”
And she says that “In our heart of hearts, we know that the message is true. In our heart of hearts, we know that God didn’t send Jesus just to bless us, but to turn us into the kind of people who focus on blessing others. In our heart of hearts, we know that without help we will never be the people God intends us to be. Like angry children, we turn our backs on those who tell us the truth and those who show us the truth about ourselves.”
Is there more? Just a little bit, Rev. Mowchan says “No one wants to give up the hope of abundant life without abundant sacrifice…((And listen to this!)) We long for Easter without Good Friday. ((That’s it in a nutshell, I think.)) And so, we hide and wait. We wait to see what God will do next. Like most things God does, it will surprise us.” (I think she’s referring to Easter!) Amen.
Pastor Skip
